Year 10 Geography students recently took part in an exciting fieldwork trip to Carding Mill Valley, located in the Shropshire Hills, as part of their River Studies unit. The aim of the visit was to investigate how river characteristics change along a river’s course.

Throughout the day, pupils worked in groups to collect a range of primary data from the river. They carefully measured key river features including width, depth, and flow conditions at different points along the valley. In addition, students examined and analysed the sediment found within the river, helping them to understand how material is transported and deposited.

The weather on the day was excellent, with clear skies and warm sunshine providing ideal conditions for outdoor learning. This made the experience even more enjoyable and allowed students to fully engage with their fieldwork tasks.

Pupils were a credit to the school throughout the trip. They demonstrated excellent behaviour, enthusiasm, and teamwork while carrying out their investigations. Staff were extremely impressed with their focus and maturity during the fieldwork activities.

Bloxwich Academy have had a fantastic opportunity to invite Walsall Council representatives to complete Bikeability Fix with our pupils. During the session Carol and Pete shared clear safety rules to support our pupils when they are riding their bikes and reminded pupils the dangers of not being seen on the road. Pupils were reminded of the safety of helmets and how they can support pupils if they are ever unfortunate enough to come off their bikes. As well as safety measures, pupils were taught how to maintain their bikes, including different types of brakes, lights and how to repair a puncture. We would like to thank A*Stars Road Safety and Walsall Council for this opportunity

‘EMPWR to make a change’ week one and two.. 

Week one: 📚Paige shared with the students her experiences through school, struggles growing up and how poor behaviours, lifestyle and trauma caused me to getting kicked out of school an college, which almost ruined her future. 

💁🏼‍♀️She spoke to them about the impact of what poor choices around behaviour, who you spend your time with, your actions and poor eating habits can have both on your success as well as mental and physical health. 

👩🏼‍💻They discussed their goals in life, jobs they want, who they aspire to be and things they want to achieve both in school and after school. (Something we will look further into in week four).

🍬Finally they discussed the impact of a high sugar diet can have on your mood, energy, concentration in school as well as mental and physical health. Paige showed them the sugar content in four different snack items compared to what our recommended daily intake is.

Week two: 👟We took a visit to the EMPWR gym where we discussed the basics on fuelling our body, the basics of calories & importance of eating enough (and enough of the right foods). 

🏃🏼‍♀️The students then took part in a warm up where the girls had to run and sort food groups (on post it notes) into sections and decide which was a protein, a fat and carbs. 

We talked through the benefits of each food group and sorted out the answers collectively. 

🏋🏼‍♀️We completed two circuits with a mix of strength and high intensity training, finished with the girls creating their own circuit to finish. 

Great start for the first couple of weeks with our new group at Bloxwich Academy.

Week six with Bloxwich Academy & what a pleasure they’ve been 📚🙌🏼 This week we had the students come to the EMPWR gym where we built an all over body workout together. We discussed which muscle groups were used in each exercise and overall focused on good technique and form whilst lifting. At the end of the session we spoke a little more into why eating the right foods are important and the benefits of fuelling your body, not just for training but for general day to day life and overall health. The girls showed great enthusiasm in the session and towards making improvements in their general activity levels & efforts in school.

Nutrition and exercise plays such a huge part in mental and physical health as well as supporting our energy, brain function, hormones & mood. Great finish to the six weeks 🥳🏋🏼‍♀️

11 of our Year 10 pupils did us proud at CCM Birmingham learning how to lay block paving. They learnt how to prepare the base and practiced various block paving patterns in the training centre. This work experience was valuable for these pupils wishing to pursue a career in construction.

Following on from their impressive 8-0 victory against Wednesfield Academy last week, the year 9 football team went into yesterday afternoons match against Willenhall E-ACT Academy full of confidence after building up a good run of form 5 matches unbeaten.  

After 15 minutes the team was 3-0 up thanks to goals from Charley, Lewis and Bradley (all year 9). A mix up in defence on 2 occasions left Bloxwich holding on to a 4-3 lead at half time. A frantic second half ended with Willenhall winning 6-5!! The highlight of the Match was a Billy (year 9), Beckham-esque goal from the halfway line.  

A special mention to year 11 student Lucas who volunteered to referee the match and did so superbly well.

As part of our World Book Day celebrations, we were delighted to be joined by author and inspirational speaker, Errol Lawson. He shared his stories with pupils, telling of how he overcame hardship in his teenage years and with support of those around him turned his life around to become a youth mentor, to inspire young people to ‘Be The Best They Can Be.’ Students were invited to participate in a question-and-answer session, with students receiving a copy of his latest book, ‘The Teen’s guide To becoming Unstoppable’ which he happily signed for students. A group of students were also selected to participate in a workshop run by Errol. He tailored his workshop for our students, who wanted to learn how to write a book – we may well have the next top selling author in our Academy! It was a fantastic day, and it was a privilege to see our students so engaged and inspired by Errol’s story.

Earlier this week, a group of our Year 7–9 pupils had the exciting opportunity to travel to the beautiful city of Paris for an unforgettable school trip. The visit was packed with memorable experiences, cultural learning and plenty of fun. We joined the other schools from our trust, Matrix Academy trust. 

One of the highlights of the trip was a full day at Disneyland Paris. Pupils enjoyed exploring the park, experiencing the thrilling rides and attractions, and making the most of everything Disney has to offer. It was fantastic to see so many smiles throughout the day.

During our time in the city, pupils also visited the iconic Eiffel Tower, where they were able to take in the incredible views across Paris and learn more about one of the world’s most famous landmarks. Another key stop was the impressive Stade de France, the national stadium of France, where pupils discovered the history behind major sporting events and concerts held at the venue.

Alongside these highlights, pupils experienced much more of what Paris has to offer, from exploring the city streets to sampling French culture and cuisine.

Most importantly, the behaviour of our pupils throughout the trip was excellent. They represented the school with maturity, enthusiasm and respect, and staff were incredibly proud of the way they conducted themselves at all times. It was great to see pupils bonding and creating friendships with the other pupils from the trust.